HuffPo: Media Matters Hires Angelo Carusone, Leader Of 'Stop Beck' Movement, To Ramp Up Campaign Against Fox News
Written by Media Matters Staff
Published
From a December 9 Huffington Post article:
The battle between progressives and Fox News just got hotter. Liberal watchdog Media Matters has hired one of Glenn Beck's key nemeses, a man who has been working behind the scenes (and more publicly on Twitter) for the past year to convince advertisers to drop the right-wing icon.
Angelo Carusone, a 28-year-old Long Island native and competitive debate champion, is a constant presence on Twitter under the moniker @StopBeck. He has leveraged his account to encourage other users to put pressure on companies to stop advertising on Beck's show and update the Twitterverse on his successes.
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At Media Matters, Carusone will be continuing to reach out to the advertisers of both Beck and Fox News, expand the group's efforts to put pressure on the network and assist with the larger Drop Fox campaign being run in partnership with People for the American Way. “Advertisers need to be aware that they are funding a network that promotes a climate of fear and suspicion that could lead to another Oklahoma City," said Media Matters CEO David Brock in a press release on the launch of the campaign.
“This is going to look for ways to hold Fox News accountable beyond just advertisers,” said Carusone. “Fox News gets financial support and support from entities other than just their sponsors, so I think it's important to keep in mind that what we're dealing with here is so vitally important that we want to be able to find other ways to bring accountability, as well. Sponsors will be the first phase, but it will hopefully end up being a much broader campaign.”
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When asked what reactions he hopes Beck will have to the news of his new ties to Media Matters, Carusone laughed and replied, “I hope that Glenn Beck will understand the seriousness of this now. That this is not going to go away. It is going to continue to get bigger. And all we're asking is for Glenn Beck to be more responsible. My hope, my dream, would be that Glenn Beck says, gee, maybe I should think twice before I say something so false about an entity like the Tides Foundation that someone thinks they're in great danger -- so much so that they strap on a bulletproof vest and try to defend themselves against the Tides Foundation. So, my hope is that Glenn Beck takes heed."